


the aftermath of arrogance

by ofstormsandwolves



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Post-Episode: s02e04 The Girl in the Fireplace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 12:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11828856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofstormsandwolves/pseuds/ofstormsandwolves
Summary: After everything that's happened with Sarah Jane and Reinette, Rose finds herself feeling more than a little fragile and upset about how Mickey and the Doctor have treated her recently.





	the aftermath of arrogance

“So. Are you gonna forgive him, then?”

Rose didn’t look round at the sound of the voice in the galley doorway. Instead, she ignored Mickey and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, sparing a brief glance at the contents of the fruit bowl before turning away.

“Rose?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it, Mick,” Rose countered as she made to push past him and out into the corridor.

He stopped her though, pulled her back, a frown on his face. “Look, babe, you know you can talk to me, right?” he asked, looking concerned. “I know the Doctor’s been a right idiot today, but I’m here for you-”

Rose scoffed at that, cutting him off abruptly, and startling Mickey.

“Are you though?” she asked, shaking her head. “Just a day ago you were making snide comments, and now I’m supposed to believe you’re here for me? You’re only ever here for me when the Doctor’s messed up, when you think it’s gonna make you look good.”

Mickey blinked at her. “Babe-”

But Rose pushed past him, breaking out of the galley and into the corridor, bottle of water in one hand as she shook her head and stalked off down the corridor.

“Rose! Just wait-” Mickey called after her again.

By then though, Rose had turned the corridor and was out of sight, so Mickey hurried after her... Only to find that the corridor was a dead end.

~0~0~

A couple of hours of fruitless searching later, Mickey returned to the galley unable to locate Rose. He was starting to suspect that the finicky time ship was hiding her from him, although he wasn’t too sure why. It had been the Doctor who had left them on that spaceship to run off after that courtesan, it had been the Doctor who had almost got them killed by nutty robots, it had been the Doctor Rose was angry at, not him. So why was the TARDIS hiding her from him?

When he entered the galley, though, he saw that someone was already there. But rather than Rose, it was the Doctor. He looked at Mickey over the rim of his grey mug with a frown. The Time Lord and the human surveyed each other in suspicious silence for several long moments, before finally one of them spoke.

“Isn’t Rose with you?”

“No,” Mickey shook his head. “I’d ask if you’d seen her, but I think you’re the last person she wants to see right now.”

The Doctor quirked his eyebrow. “Oh?” he asked, and he sounded ever so slightly smug. “So that means you’d know exactly where she is, then?”

“Yeah,” Mickey responded, straightening his back a little as he tried to bluff the Time Lord.

“And that means you’ve not just spent the last few hours looking for her? And that the TARDIS isn’t hiding her from you?”

At his words, Mickey’s shoulders slumped. Then, he frowned. “Hang on,” he asked. “How’d you know the TARDIS is hiding Rose?”

The Doctor flushed a little at that, and set his mug down to rub at the back of his neck instead. “Well,” he said after a long moment, “I might have, sort of, been looking for her too.”

Mickey’s lips quirked a little at that. “So the TARDIS is hiding Rose from you? Not me?”

The Time Lord sniffed, and met Mickey’s gaze calmly. “I think she’s hiding Rose from both of us, Mickey.” He paused. “Let’s be honest, neither of us have been particularly great to her the last few days.”

But Mickey instead just snorted. “Nah, mate,” he retorted, shaking his head. “That’s just you. Me and Rose are fine.”

The Doctor looked at him, expression unreadable, and Mickey pointedly ignored him. Instead he crossed to the freezer and started rooting about for something to eat. He had just found himself what seemed to be a burger and chips when there was a sound in the galley doorway. Both men looked round to see Rose in the doorway, looking more than a little awkward and like she would much rather flee than talk to them.

“Rose!” the Doctor grinned. “Everything alright?”

She nodded, but didn’t particularly look alright.

“I’m gonna do some dinner,” Mickey told her, holding up the burger and chips. “Want some?”

Rose’s eyes narrowed momentarily, before she shook her head. “I ate earlier,” she responded. “The TARDIS gave me some pasta.” She paused, watching Mickey carefully for a moment. “Was that meant to be a joke?”

Both men blinked at her, and then at each other.

“Why would it be a joke?” Mickey frowned. “I just wanted to know if you wanted something to eat.”

Rose nodded slightly but didn’t look convinced. Instead, she crossed the galley and pulled out a chair to sit at the table.

“Babe?” Mickey prompted again. “Why would it be a joke?”

She bit her lip, shrugged, stared at the table. “I’m still angry about earlier,” she said at last, voice quiet but audible.

“What?” Mickey asked with a frown. “I didn’t do anything earlier.”

The other side of the galley, the Doctor sniffed. “You obviously did, or the TARDIS wouldn’t have kept her from you.”

At his words, Rose’s head shot up. “And don’t you go acting all arrogant either!” she snapped at him, eyes suddenly blazing. “Both of you, you’ve treated me like... Like nothin’ the past few days! An’ as if it wasn’t bad enough Mickey trying to make out he was suddenly on my side earlier, now that you messed up, now you’re doin’ the same!”

Both the Doctor and Mickey blinked at each other, clearly baffled.

“I’m just saying that Mickey maybe isn’t admitting that he upset you,” the Doctor spoke over the other man’s spluttering.

“And you are?” Rose countered.

At that, the Doctor flailed. “I didn’t... I mean, I haven’t upset you. Have I?” He frowned. “Is this about, you know...” He jerked his head towards Mickey.

Rose just blinked at him. “Are you really that oblivious?” she asked after a long silence.

“ ‘Course he is, babe,” Mickey broke in, looking a little smug. “He’s an alien. Dunno why you put up with him. Come on, we’ll go hang out in the media room.”

He abandoned his food on the galley counter, made to cross the room and grab Rose’s arm, but she jerked away.

“You do know that you’re just as bad as him, yeah?”

Mickey faltered at Rose’s words. “What’ve I done?” he asked, a little indignant. “I’m the one who’s been here for you, all through that rubbish when he ran off with Sarah Jane yesterday and the day before, an’ Reinette today-”

“Yeah,” Rose nodded, getting to her feet and folding her arms across her chest, “an’ you made snide comments while you were doing it. What did you say to me in the cafe, night before last? Do you even remember?”

Mickey stayed silent. Rose clenched her jaw.

“Do you want me to refresh your memory?” she asked tensely after several seconds of silence. “Which part are you having trouble remembering? The part where you gloated about me not knowing about Sarah Jane, or the part where you told me to ‘lay off the chips’?”

Mickey shifted uncomfortably at that, and across the room the Doctor stiffened.

“You did what?” he all but growled.

Rose, however, just rolled her eyes. “And don’t you start,” she told him, spinning on her heels to face him. “You’re no better than him! Running off and leaving me on a spaceship to chase after some rich girl!”

“Rose,” the Doctor protested, wide-eyed, “it wasn’t like that-”

“I didn’t mean it,” Mickey said suddenly, speaking over the Doctor’s protests. “It was just a joke, babe. You know that.”

“But that’s the point,” Rose sighed, looking between the two men, who both, at least now, looked a little sheepish. “I know that you went after Reinette because you had to preserve the timelines, Doctor. And I know that you only really meant those things as a joke, Mickey. But that’s not how any of it felt to me.” She frowned at Mickey. “How do you think I felt with Sarah Jane turning up out of the blue? And then the first thing you did as my best friend was to brag about how it meant that you were right the Doctor’s just a normal bloke. An’, an’ not only that, but you then thought it would be funny to insult me. Mick, you’re one of my best friends, but when a guy tells a girl she should lay off food, that’s usually less a joke and more a comment on her appearance. No matter how funny it seemed to you, that’s not how it seemed to me.”

Mickey sniffed, and said nothing, but looked more than a little guilty at Rose’s words.

“An’ you, Doctor,” she said with a sigh, rounding on the other man. “How do you think I feel? Two days after suddenly finding out I’m not the first person you’ve travelled with, you invite my ex-boyfriend on board and then leave me stranded on a spaceship to run after a posh prostitute. I know you had to save her life, an’ I’m not blaming you for that, but you could’ve at least spoken to me. You could’ve told me your plan, I could’ve helped more. An’ it would have made me feel a whole lot better if I knew I could trust you to come back to me rather than stay with her.”

“Rose, I’d have always come back,” the Doctor protested weakly. “I would never have just left you-”

“But you left Sarah Jane,” Rose interrupted quietly. “You said you wouldn’t ever leave me behind, and then less than two days later you did just that. How do you think I felt when you sent me to Reinette? How do you think I felt, seeing her with her posh dresses and perfect hair, while I’m there in jeans and a t-shirt?” She sighed. “How could I see Reinette like that and still think you’d choose me?”

There was a long and heavy silence then, neither man quite knowing what to say and Rose feeling like she had said far too much already.

“You’ve both been so... Arrogant the last few days,” she finally said, voice quiet and tired. “And you’re both such oblivious idiots. Both of you, you do all these things and make these jokes and comments, and you never put yourself on the other side of them. I’m expected to just accept that you’ve had other companions, Doctor, and not want to ask questions, or not want reassurance that you’re not just going to leave me. And I’m expected to just accept all the jokes you make, Mickey, even if I don’t find them funny, even if they hurt me a little, because you’re always making those sorts of comments. An’ I’m stuck in the middle of it all, not knowing what to do, or where I stand, an’ I’m just expected to take it all!”

Another long silence. And then, the Doctor was across the room and wrapping Rose in a hug. She sagged in his arms, exhausted from the events of the day, from the troubled sleep she’d had the night before with everything that had happened with Sarah Jane, and from the emotional onslaught she’d been battling the last few hours.

“I’m sorry,” the Doctor sighed, squeezing her gently. “I’ve been stupid. I should have told you about Sarah Jane, and I’m sorry I didn’t. But I really did mean what I said to you outside the cafe, Rose. I’m not going to leave you. You’re stuck with me, I’m afraid.”

“Could be worse,” Rose mumbled against his chest, cracking a small smile.

The Time Lord let out a small, pleased sound at that, before somewhat reluctantly releasing her as Mickey drew near.

“I’m sorry too, babe,” he mumbled, looking a little embarrassed. “I’ll make it up to you.”

Rose smiled. “You’d better.”

He pulled her into a hug then, which Rose gratefully accepted, leaning close to her best friend and breathing in his familiar scent. After a long while they finally pulled apart, turning to see the Doctor with his hands shoved in his trouser pockets as he rocked on his heels.

“Don’t suppose you two fancy a movie night?” the Time Lord asked, looking a little embarrassed. “Give us all a chance to relax.”

Rose looked to Mickey, who just shrugged, before nodding.

“Go on then,” Rose said, heading for the galley door. “You two can bring the snacks. You owe me.”

And with that, she was gone.


End file.
